Peninsula
Restaurant - Chinese in London
85 Bugsby's Way
London
Greater London
SE10 0GD
Contact Numbers
Reviews
From Beautiful Swan to Ugly (Peking) Duckling
I'm really hoping that this was an off night as the food and service was so far below what I've received here before it could make you weep.I was full of the place when I was bigging it up to a friend I was meeting there who had never been. We were met by a waiter that gestured us towards a table - no words left his lips, not a smile this side of christmas.When I asked for a jug of water to accompany our meal, it was as though I had insulted his parents such was the surly reaction, only tempered when we then ordered some beers as well. The food was remarkably average and barely warm. We were served our main courses seperately by a full 7 minutes - I had almost finished when my friends arrived - and it wasn't anything complicated.They couldn't wait to get us out and we couldn't wait to leave but not before they had added without asking a full 15% surcharge for "Service". Needless to say I took a perverse delight in asking them to remove it. When they haughtily asked why I told them it was because I had received none !!London's too big for the Peninsula to think it can offer this level of service and expect that people will have to like it or lump it. We can always vote with our feet...
A User - 08/05/2009 | report this review
Tip top dim sum
The contrast couldn't have been greater. From a culture where there are strict rules about which parts of which animal can be eaten and when (see my review of Reuben's on Baker Street), to a part of the world where it's probably easier to list the animals, minerals and vegetables that aren't consumed in some fashion than those that are. The Chinese have an admirable, if frequently terrifyingly liberal, attitude to foodstuffs, which has been well-documented on many a "Top 10 most shocking dishes in the world" list or hysterical travelogue. Fortunately, there was no fresh duck foetus or snake blood on yesterday's menu at the Peninsula, and quite frankly even if there had been I wouldn't have known as I left all the ordering up to Lizzie of Hollow Legs (http://lizzieeatslondon.blogspot.com), who has the twin advantage of a Chinese heritage and an absolutely astonishing appetite.For a comprehensive and far more authoritative list of the exciting and often sublime dishes we ate at the Peninsula (along with some mouth-watering photography) I suggest you take a quick look at Helen's post at World Foodie Guide (http://www.worldfoodieguide.com/index.php/peninsula-chinese-london-england/). Highlights for me included the crunchy taro croquettes which had a gloopy paste inside with a great, deep flavour, all the cheung fun which were without exception excellent coming with an impossibly silky noodle wrapping, all the steamed dumplings which were again superb, and the old favourite char sui buns which were fluffy and fresh.As far as unusual Chinese specialities goes, we tried a plate of jellyfish which had a rather... challenging... texture (try and imagine thick rubber bands) but came in a lovely delicate sesame oil marinade. Also new to me were squares of turnip paste, which rather than tasting like something you might have with your roast beef, had a great meaty flavour and were incredibly moreish. Once we had worked our way through what felt like every savoury dish on the menu, a few desserts arrived - delicate little custard tarts, a very fresh tasting mango pudding and a lovely subtle opaque coconut jelly.Soon after last morsel of coconut jelly had passed our lips, it was time to pay the bill, which came to an amazingly reasonable £15 each. Unsurprisingly, and in common with every other restaurant in London which has managed to combine tasty ingredients with an attractive price-point, the Peninsula was very popular, and although we managed to bag one of the last free tables at around 11:30am (they don't take bookings), by the time we left they were queuing out the door. The clientele were, at a guess, 95% Chinese, which along with a marvellously surly waiter lent the otherwise characterless room a nice air of authenticity (whatever that is these days). There's even free parking for guests. What more do you want?
A User - 12/03/2009 | report this review
A different world
Fresh on the heels of a wonderful night at Trinity, I wangled a day off from revision for Cowie. Eating on Sundays normally means 3 things for us Brits. Either a solid fry up for breakfast, a slap up roast or a blinding curry. But one of the best things to eat on a Sunday is dim sum.Cowie and I had a wonderful time feasting on dim sum in Hong Kong. We love their little parcels of joy. It's interesting that dim sum literally means "to touch the heart". It's a bit like the concept behind the Cadbury's Gorilla advert... it's all about the sheer feeling of joy. Uninhibited euphoria.I met Lizzie from Hollow Legs at the Trusted Places blogger meetup. She's great fun and recommended that I should take Cowie to an obscure dim sum restaurant in a Holiday Inn somewhere in the region of North Greenwich. I drunkenly made it home and woke up realising that Lizzie had answered my long search for what to do for Cowie's birthday. Lizzie you're a genius.Bravely Cowie and I ventured off to the back of beyond.. in search of the ideal dim sum birthday lunch. The whole of North Greenwich was deserted. Acres of car parks. Miles of dual carriageway. Like a scene from 28 days later... there was no-one. Anywhere.But then we arrived at the very impressive Holiday Inn Express. Resplendent in its green and blue livery.And we saw people. Lots of Chinese people wearing very smart clothes... all piling into a very municipal looking building with hilarious concrete lions guarding the entrance.We queued for around 20 minutes, surrounded by loud and eager customers. Some more irascible than others. One enormous Indian gentleman landed up having a row with the brusque gentleman in charge of queuing before we'd even sat down. That takes some doing... and explains why any review you read of this place will mention the aggressive service. Charm isn't a word that's understood at the Peninsula!We were shown to a comically large table and presented with what can only be described as a cross between a computer accessed driving test paper and a nationally lottery ticket. After a while we realised that we needed an English menu and proceeded to transfer our choices across to the dim sum ballot paper.Cowie, went with the safety first option... but I was keen to test out the menu with a little more recklessness. This wasn't wise. The pork knuckle I bravely ordered arrived first in the form of thin, salami esque strips of cold meat... topped with what looked like sauteed onions. Wrong. One weird mouthful later and realised that the onions were actually jelly fish! When can you say you've ever accidentally eaten jellyfish as the first thing you put in your mouth on your birthday! After this brief bout of culture shock things soon got much more palatable. All of their dumplings were brilliant. None of them stuck to the bamboo steamers like you find at places like Ping Pong. In particular, the cheung fun was extraordinary. Almost worth the trip on its own.It was a truly brilliant experience and we can't recommend it enough to anyone who wants to step out of their comfort zone for a mind opening experience. We're definitely adding dim sum to our list of Sunday must dos along with squash, The Observer, bacon sandwiches, lie ins and curries from the Holy Cow.
A User - 09/10/2008 | report this review
good food and location
its located beneath the holiday inn very near to the 02 arena. I like it because its run soley by authentic chinese people, the food is similar to many other places but with a twist.
david lobo - 10/08/2007 | report this review
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